Called by one critic the Quincy Jones of Tropical music, Guará's Latin/Cuban jazz and pop includes all original salsa, mambo, bolero and more.

10 MP3 Songs
LATIN: General, JAZZ: Latin Jazz



Details:
"Raúl Guará, is a trombonist, orchestrator and a notable band leader. In his versatile work he includes much of his rich Cuban patrimony, the worldâs jazz and pop music. He deserves much more recognition than he has now."
John Santos, Machete Ensemble

"Raúl Guará writes his scripts, prepares his own choreography, composes his music and he is a director. For me, he is the black Richard Wagner of the XXI century."
Juanjo Vardemorillo
Record label Producer
La Pequeña Jamaica

"Raúl Guará is the Quincy Jones, of Tropical music."
Pedro Baselga
Music producer
Infinity Studios

"After Meme Solis and Aida Diestro, in assembling voices, it is Raúl Guará."
Cuban singerâs comment

"Raúl Guará is a master at combining instruments and pitches for large formats."
Juan de Marco Gonzalez
Director of AfroâCuban All Stars

"A disk (www.guara.com) to shake the body: mambo, merengue and much more. Undoubtedly authentic, passionate and rhythmical compositions, arranged to perfection. Impeccable lyrics. A top-notch musician. With this mixture of musicians, Raúl Guará achieves a disk to listen to any time. . . . A mixture of passion and swing."
PabloVolpe
Music critic
Todo Banda

"His is the most authentic Cuban music to come our way in some time. Musicians are excellent. We note that the production and the arrangements are made by someone who really is a specialist in this field. Compositions are rhythmic, catchy, and cheerful, and the lyrics are positive and very good. Congratulations on your excellent work!"
Issa Wilson
Latin Music Artists
Writing about www.guara.com

Personal data
Raúl Guará Colás
Nationality: Cuban
Birth Date: February 6, 1959
Birthplace: Guantanamo, Cuba

At an early age Raúl showed an inclination for music and by 1974 had entered the School for Art Instructors, and afterwards, in 1984, the School for Professional Excellence. Later he took a variety of workshops and courses in trombone with specialists like Alvaro Collado of the orchestra Van Van and Wagner Wallace of Earth, Wind and Fire. In addition, he pursued studies in composition and orchestration with Professor Neyfe Milanes, former director of the Tropicana Orchestra, and directing for radio broadcast production and direction with Luis Robira, musicologist and radio director. He taught himself percussion, bass, harmony and music theory.

Degrees and certificates:
ÿ Trombone
ÿ Guitar
ÿ Arranging
ÿ Bass
ÿ Percussion
ÿ Musicology
ÿ Producer
ÿ Composition
ÿ Orchestration
ÿ Choral and orchestral direction

For more than 25 years he has worked with a variety of musical groups developing several music styles such as:
ÿ Accompanying guitarist
ÿ Trio, quartette, quintet.....
ÿ Septet
ÿ Group
ÿ Pop group
ÿ Orchestra
ÿ Band

For musical groups such as:
ÿ Trio Origen
ÿ Iresón
ÿ Iyakarey
ÿ Ilusión del 60
ÿ Conjunto Palmas y Cañas
ÿ Soneros de Cuba
ÿ Banda Hechizo, among
ÿ others

He has participated in:
the welcoming reception of Pope John Paul II in Cuba;
orchestration of the theme music for the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Kenny Davis Anthony.
segment for Channel 4 of the Swedish Television, RTE, BBC, C.D. Homage ceremony to Antonio Flores, radio and television programs, video-clips, and soap operas in Cuba and around the world.
His musical compositions have been played on radio stations the United States as well as in motion pictures by Miramax, Bravo Films and several others.
He has also directed Orchestras of different styles and formats.
He has composed more than 200 works, among them: songs, suites, rhapsodies, opera, etc.
He has orchestrated more than 1000 works, for different formats.
His arrangements, compositions and orchestrations have been interpreted, among others, by:
Alberto Tosca (Troubadour)
Nilo (Rapper)
Felix Valoy (Buenavista Social Club)
Felix Valoy Jr. (AfroâCuban All Stars)
Coco Freeman (Cuban vocalist)
Anais Abreu (Premio Cubadisco)
Banda De Conciertos
Orchestra for Radio and Television.

Festivals and competitions:
International Circus Festival
XII and XIV World Festival of Youth and Students
Prize âIberian Jazzâ, 2000.
Tours in Canada and Spain

In 2003, he carried out three productions for the record label Envidia Records:
- Felix Valoy Jr.
- Raúl Guara and The Dream Team
- www.Guara.com

In 2004, Raúl self-produced the all original CD, COMO PAâ CHUPARSE LOS DEDOS. He also composed the music for the contemporary dance INTERVADOS, for the Dance Company of Middlebury, Vermont. He was chosen as the artist of the month in September of the 2004, by Latin Music Artists. At present, he is working on an opera composition entitled IGUALIB. One of his present projects is to carry out two disk productions apart from completing a book on improvisation in Cuban music and to write a work for the 2005 Master Prize competition (London Symphony).

SUIGENERIS, released in 2005, is a compilation of music written for INTERVADOS and selections from other CDs. TRIBUTE TO MOTOWN (2006), Raúl's most recent release is a collection of Motown classics reconceived "a lo Cubano."

Email:
rgtropicalswing00@yahoo.com

Web page:
www.raulguara.galeon.com